Anyone taking notes of what they eat?

[boom]

I think I am going to start a journal. for my food. nothing "dear Diary" or anything remotely like it.

just what I eat each day. I am trying to trim down drastically, and I think it would be good to track what I eat. plus if I ever meet with my Dietician again, I would have data.

anyone doing this? maybe I'll leave some space at the bottom of the page for me to talk about my feelings. hahahaha...

 

[Andy M.]

Back in 2003 after I had a heart attack, I put myself on a diet to lose weight. I lost 47 pounds. I calculated the calories for everything I ate. Kept to a 2000 calorie diet. I allowed myself some flexibility as long as I averaged 2000 calories per day over the week. I don't do that any more.

I found the USDA nutrition database very useful for detailed info on every food product.

 

[pseudotsuga]

I think I am going to start a journal. for my food. nothing "dear Diary" or anything remotely like it.

just what I eat each day. I am trying to trim down drastically, and I think it would be good to track what I eat. plus if I ever meet with my Dietician again, I would have data.

anyone doing this? maybe I'll leave some space at the bottom of the page for me to talk about my feelings. hahahaha...

I've been doing this more or less since 2019 I think. I keep a paper journal, kind of like a "bullet journal". I have a high-level month calendar where I write appointments in advance, sometimes note the weather for that day, and track habits by eg. putting a tick next to a "W" to note that I took a walk. Now that I write it all out it seems kind of weird haha.

But I also have 3 lines marked "B", "L", "D" (for breakfast, lunch, dinner) also with a little space to note between-meal snacks. This isn't really to track calories -- I started the meal tracking to figure out whether or not I was lactose intolerant (I am, to an extent, unfortunately). What I've really figured out though is that I really really like to have oats for breakfast, A LOT. Also it's pushed me to eat snacks that have short names that fit in the space on the page (only sort of kidding!!)

 

[dragnlaw]

I too am lactose intolerant, and I love oatmeal. But only as a child did I ever have it with milk. Now I just have it with butter and either brown sugar or molasses .
Can't remember the name of the cereal with oats, nuts and honey, but it was one of my absolute favourites. I never figured out which was worse, probably all equal, but the belly aches I got after were horrid. Took me years to figure out it was all of those foods. Milk and honey at the top, then the oil in nuts.

As to Calendars. I buy a regular calendar with large squares for the month. Then write in what I had that day. Not usually breakfast or lunch unless it was unusual. Was a great record. Now I often have to go to DC's menu and look back to see what I had!

I have yet to figure out how to co-ordinate my phone with the calendar on my 'puter. That probably would be the best way for me now.

 

[HeyItsSara]

Being prediabetic and lately with high cholesterol, I am very aware and cognizant of what I eat. I see my nutritionist on the regular so I definitely have a list of my food.

Dragnlaw, have you ever tried Lactaids?

 

[dcSaute]

Dear Dr. put me on a "low fat" diet - 7 years ago . . .
I have a record of everything I ate B-L-D for everyday since.
using the USDA database + local entries, I track total fat, saturated fat, cholesterol, carbs and calories.
which I sum up by week, including weight... and compare to my LDL testing.

homespun program - here's today's tally so far - a BLT for lunch...

 

[dragnlaw]

Hey Sara it's strange, that is something I never tried. Once I figured it out I now just buy lactose free milk and cream. Hard cheeses do not have lactose and soft cheeses... well, in small amounts I can ignore the ache.

dcSaute, I could probably do that too - for about a week... and then it would fall by the way-side.